Friday, 27 May 2011

The Ponthafren Associationin Newtown, has been awarded £4,130 from the GwirVol grant scheme.

The award-winning Powys charity provides support, information and education to members of the community affected by mental health issues and/or social exclusionor isolation. ‘Anim8 2 Motiv8’ will be a series of taster workshops to capture young people’s thoughts and ideas on what inspires them to volunteer. This will then be followed by a series of animation workshops involving young people, with the aim of producing a DVD on the ‘story’ of what Ponthafren does and the benefits of volunteering.

Nicky Morris Co-ordinator at Ponthafren said “we are very excited about this grant which will help us to target young people between the ages of 16 and 25 in a way that will really work. My son is 17 and I had produced a leaflet which was supposed to be aimed at encouraging young people to volunteer – he took one look at my attempt and said that if he was given the leaflet he would not have read beyond the second paragraph as it was ‘way too wordy and boring’! This made me rethink the whole way in which we engage young people and instead of inflicting my ideas on them – for the ideas to come from the young people themselves. We have now carried out the first of our initial taster sessions with Health and Social Care Students from Coleg Powys and have received very positive and helpful feedback that the project is going to be a great opportunity to support young people on their career pathway – volunteering will give them the experience they need to gain employment within the Health and Social Care setting and inspire them to great things.”

(Source WCVA / Ponthafren Association)

Congratulations and thank you to Ponthafren for sharing their success with us, we look forward to seeing the results of this project.

Andrea Powell, the National Officer for Wales from Children in Need will be coming to Powys on Wednesday 8 June 2011.If you are considering applying to the fund, we would encourage you to take up this opportunity to meet with Andrea to discuss your application.

The surgery will take place at the PAVO Offices in Llandrindod Wells.

APPOINTMENTS MUST BE BOOKED.To book your place contact PAVO on 01597 822191.

Children in Need run two grant schemes. Grants are open to organisations working with disadvantaged children and young people who are 18 years old and under.

·Your organisation and project must be based in the UK and you need to be a registered charity or other not-for-profit organisation.

·There are two general grant deadlines remaining for this year: 15 July, 15 October.

Monday, 23 May 2011

For Older People and Sport for Change programme only the next deadline for Expression of Interest is 10th June 2011.

Applications are being invited from the voluntary and community sector organisations throughout the UK. In addition, Comic Relief operates a programme that supports disadvantaged communities. This programme is devolved to the Community Foundation Network. Please contact your local Community Foundation directly for details of their funding application procedures.

Comic Relief provides both capital and revenue and can pay for up to 100% of projects costs but they encourage applicants to get some of their funding from other sources.

Please note that:

·organisations can only submit one application at a time

·if an application is unsuccessful, you cannot reapply for a grant to any programme (whether for the same project or a different project) for another 12 months.

Friday, 20 May 2011

Are you campaigning on an issue important to you, whether it is at a local, national or global level? Would you like support to be a better campaigner?

Applications for the SMK Campaigner Awards 2011 are now open. This year there are nine award categories including Consumer Action, Environment and Social and Economic Justice.

A Shiela McKechnie Foundation Campaigner Award is for people who are just starting out as campaigners and want some support to get results. Apply now, or if you know someone else who might benefit from the award you can nominate them in less than two minutes!

The closing date for receiving applications is 1pm on Monday 20 June 2011

Currently there are nine million people in the UK who have never used the internet. BT Community Connections is an award scheme which offers community groups the chance to get online and help people discover the wonders of the internet.

If your group helps the community access the internet and improves people’s ICT skills, you could be eligible to apply for a year’s free broadband.

The scheme supports a diverse range of community and charitable groups across the UK and is part of BT’s Get It Together Campaign.

Evidence of need is incredibly important when making funding applications. Showing you've engaged with your 'community' will show that your project is genuinely supported. Engagement needn't be boring however. Questionnaires and the like have their place, but there are all sorts of interesting methods you can use to log support and development of a project.

If you need support on this, PAVO's Development Team are here for help and support.

Thank you to those of you who have got in touch after the Funder's Fair to say how useful it was for you. The funder's who attended have also said how much they enjoyed the event, and benefited from it.

It is always good to hear back from groups. It helps us look at what works well, and what doesn't, so that we can meet the needs of our groups / members. We even designed a day's training around some feedback we had about what groups could benefit from.

Wednesday, 11 May 2011

Friday was a useful time for PAVO to talk to the funder's about quality, volume of applications, and so on. Upon talking to the Children in Need officer attending, I was surprised to hear that groups didn't think that they funded projects in Powys! Upon delving further there were 4 projects supported in the whole of Powys in 2010.

Children in Need run two grant schemes. Grants are open to organisations working with disadvantaged children and young people who are 18 years old and under.

Your organisation and project must be based in the UK and you need to be a registered charity or other not-for-profit organisation.

There are two general grant deadlines remaining for this year: 15 July, 15 October.

So, if you are considering applying, Andrea from Children in Need will be coming back to Powys on June 8th for individuals sessions with groups interested. A PAVO Development Officer will also be in attendance. If you are interested please post a comment on the blog or phone 01597 822191. This is a great opportunity to speak with her face to face, and it would be great to get some more projectsin Powys funded!

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

Friday 6th May saw the first Powys Funder's Fair. Around 40 groups attended and benefited from being able to talk face to face to those funder's present. The atmosphere was buzzing as groups met and shared ideas and networked. The event was opened by Carl Copper, PAVO's Chief Executive.

The event was also attended by PAVO Development Officers who were on hand to respond to group's queries. It was a good opportunity to find out from groups how they found information provided by PAVO.

The funder's present also found the event useful, and they didn't stop all morning!

Following feedback we will looking at holding a similar event later in the year - watch this space!

Thursday, 5 May 2011

Yesterday saw the first time that the Funding Applications: the good, the bad and the ugly, was held.The session was well attended, and the participants really joined in with the spirit of the course.The morning session looked at why applications fail, and the group looked at some real applications to see how they thought the information was relayed. The afternoon session then took the mornings learning and turned it on its head, with the PAVO Dragon's Den.

Groups had to prepare a pitch for a fund, and present this to our very own PAVO Dragon's - two of our trustees. Roy Norris, and Gloria Jones Powell, took on this role with relish, and the groups had a rigorous assessment of their projects, by both the PAVO Dragon's and those attending the course.

Feedback was excellent on the course, and we are looking to run it again - watch this space.

Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Applications are welcome from a range of community projects including music and the arts. However, the activities must provide some measure of economic, environmental, social or cultural benefit for people living in a Communities First area.

There are over 180 areas across Wales eligible for support from the CFTF.

The CFTF is a scheme funded by the Welsh Assembly Government aimed at small community led organisations in Communities First areas in Wales. The fund is administered by WCVA.

PLEASE NOTE: There are several changes to the eligibility criteria and guidelines for CFTF this year and therefore it is important that you read the guidelines before completing your application.

The deadline date for submitting completed applications with all supporting documents is Wednesday 30 November 2011.Further help and advice about the Communities First Trust Fund, Training and Advice service is available by contacting the Communities First Helpline on 0800 587 8898 or e-mail help@wcva.org.uk